News Archive

With the coronavirus growing more deadly each day, several companies are racing to produce the first vaccine or antiviral medication to combat the spread of the virus. One company that seems to have made large strides towards finding a vaccine, is Gaithersburg-based Novavax.

The genome of the coronavirus was published last month, which opened the floodgates for potential vaccine attempts. Novavax is most notable for releasing an Ebola vaccine within 90 days of the genome being published in 2015, and they estimate they could have a similar timetable for this vaccine as well.

The streets of Wuhan, China — the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak — are empty and quiet except for the sound of loudspeakers squawking quarantine instructions to its sheltered-in-place residents. Flights to some Chinese cities have been terminated. A Tokyo, Japan-based travel agency has canceled nearly 20,000 of its Chinese package tours. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the coronavirus, which has already killed more people than SARS, a global health emergency. There are currently 11 people stricken with the novel virus in the U.S. and over 17,000 are infected globally with numbers jumping exponentially by the day. 

Image: https://biobuzz.io

Citizens across Virginia need health solutions and affordable health care to live full, healthy and productive lives. Lawmakers in the General Assembly are examining a broad range of policies in an attempt to relieve the burden of rising health care costs. But some of the proposals under consideration might have unintended consequences for both patients and Virginia’s innovation economy. As our elected officials consider how to address health care costs, they should ensure that any measure provides meaningful financial relief to patients and preserves the environment for medical innovation in Virginia that delivers groundbreaking treatments and creates thousands of high-paying jobs in the commonwealth.

Image: Kelli Price Photography 

I made illustration of Corona virus today. ? I hope scientists and doctors can find a cure soon and I wish everyone who was affected to get well and recover soon! hashtag#sciart

New Members to Add Experience to Board of Directors

ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, February 12, 2020 – BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) announced that its Board of Directors unanimously has approved the appointments of six new board members:

• Sean Augerson, Vice President, Head of Operations Americas and APAC, QIAGEN
• Peter Briskman, Executive Managing Director, JLL
• Juergen Klenk, Ph.D., Principal, Deloitte
• Dr. Jay Perman, MD, Chancellor, University System of Maryland
• Aaron Ren, Head of Business Development and Operations, Viela Bio
• Tracey Vetterick, Vice President and COO, Oncology R&D, AstraZeneca

“I am privileged to welcome these new members to our board,” said Richard Bendis, BHI President and CEO. “The addition of their leadership experience in the BioHealth Capital Region and beyond ensures in BHI’s ability to have our finger on the pulse of innovation and fresh viewpoints. I also would like to thank Rip Ballou of GSK, Robert Caret of the University System of Maryland, Doug Liu of QIAGEN, Ashish Kulkarni, of Avantor, and Beth Meagher of Deloitte Consulting LLP for their many years of service on our Board of Directors.

The first BioTalk of 2020 kicks off with Andrea Alms, MS, MBA, Co-Fund Manager of BioHealth Capital Fund as she discusses her background, the world of Angel Investment, and her vision for the Fund

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Andrea Alms is the co-fund manager of BioHealth Capital Fund.  The BioHealth Capital Fund is a venture capital early stage investment fund created by the BioHealth Innovation (“BHI”), located in Rockville, MD, the center of the BioHealth Capital Region. BHI manages a for profit subsidiary BioHealth Innovation Management (BHIM) which owns equity in 27 of the 108 client companies of BHI and has had 3 exits. Our lead investor is Alexandria Real Estate Equities; and, our reference is Joel Marcus.  Andrea is recognized for her abilities in guiding venture capital, private equity, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and other transactions involving early stage companies. Andrea assists limited partners, general partners, investors, and entrepreneurs as they create, build, and buy or sell businesses, primarily in BioHealth, healthcare, technology, and digital health products industries.

Register now for the eighth annual Public Health Research at Maryland day on Tuesday April 7. We’ll delve into the latest research focused on improving the health and well-being of diverse communities across Maryland, the nation and the world. This year’s theme, Our 2020 Vision for Healthy People 2030, highlights the release of the new Healthy People Objectives for 2030 on March 31.

SOMERSET, N.J. & GOSSELIES, Belgium–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Catalent, Inc. (NYSE: CTLT), the leading global provider of advanced delivery technologies, development, and manufacturing solutions for drugs, biologics, gene therapies, and consumer health products, and MaSTherCell Global, Inc., a technology-focused cell and gene therapy contract development and manufacturing organization to leading cell therapy innovators, today announced that Catalent has agreed to acquire MaSTherCell Global, a company backed by Great Point Partners, SFPI-FPIM, and Orgenesis Inc. (NASDAQ:ORGS), for an aggregate of $315 million in cash, subject to a customary adjustments.